Production Switch to Digital Printing

The last step in Cradle to Cradle is production. This is a crucial step because ithis is where the designs are manufactured into physical products. This is the step that can make a product sustainable. This is the step that can change our environmental impact. This is the step that separates Cradle to Cradle from Cradle to Grave. This is the step I’m going to focus on today.

The central concept of the C2CAD model is that sustainable properties are addressed whenever decisions are being made about the design and production. According to Hae Jin Gam in C2CAD: a sustainable apparel design and production model, considerations regarding sustainability in production include:

·      Safety of material inputs

·      Sustainable material flows

·      Energy use

·      Air emissions

·      Water

·      Solid waste

Surprisingly enough current industry software packages include features such as creating design, selecting and ordering materials, sourcing, producing products, calculating coast, and allocating inventory. The surprising part of this statement is that many of those features listed can be used to benefit the C2CAD model and yet it is still an issue. By incorporating C2CAD into software programs we could increase the possibility that companies will make their designs with sustainability in mind.

Technology is a vital tool that can be used for the benefit of sustainability. However, “technologists are engineering the fabrics of the future, [and] textile designers are the ones cleaning up the mess left behind,” says Bradley Quinn in his article Textile Futures. “Some tackle the growing problem of postconsumer waste, devising methods for recycling the garments that result from overproduction, and reusing the vast numbers of items worn for only one season. Others are finding ways to transform discarded industrial fabrics into textiles that are as beautiful as they are sustainable, making sure that the processes used to recycle them minimizes water pollution and chemical waste.”

My challenge this weak was to find a way to transform fabrics into textiles that are as beautiful as they are sustainable, making sure that the processes used to recycle them minimizes water pollution and chemical waste.

My solution is to remove traditional printing completely as an option and to replace it with digital printing. Digital printing is full of sustainable advantages. In an article, The New Wave of Digital Fabric Printing Technology, Gaurav Doshi lists these advantages of digital printing:

·      Design achieved with greater flexibility, without the limitation on repeat size, colors, engineered designs and gets outstanding depiction of continuous tone (photographic images

·      The digital printing equipment requires much less infrastructure and is costs less

·      Drastically trims down the time to market products

·      Mass customization requirements easily available in short time frame

·      Fast speed of operation

·      High resolution

And most importantly:

·      Decreases the use of water, dyes and solutions

·      Decreases industrial waste and print loss

·      Provides centralized manufacturing facility

With benefits like these I’m shocked that every designer hasn’t made the transition. I think that it is a crucial decision that needs to be made.

Switching to digital printing would be creating “food” value from the decrease in the waste put out. Digital printing also lends itself to upcycled materials so that they can continue to be utilized. Bottom line is that we have this incredible resource and we need to utilize it. We need to utilize it and improve on it so that eventually we could create dyes that are biodegradable that can be printed on to biodegradable garments. This is a switch we need to make now so that we can continue to learn and improve and expand our technology for the future.